Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Was this your last time teaching our class?

So before Dragon Boat Festival we were having all this terrible weather and my co-teachers and Taiwanese friends all kept saying that once we got passed Dragon Boat Festival it would be super hot out and we would get all the sun we could handle plus some.

They weren't lying. Except I'm a Texas girl, so I can totally handle it.

I have been soaking up the sun here. And while I would still prefer that the humidity would go away (in Texas we do dry heat, not humid) I'm loving every little bit of it. Every little ray of sunlight reminds me that I'm going to be on a beach with my sister drinking tropical drinks with umbrellas soon.

Or measuring my drinks by the sand-pail, either way works, really.

I got tired of being haunted by rainclouds and constantly being cold and wet. Of course now we're all going to be drenched in our own sweat 24/7.

I definitely washed my face four times yesterday because I was in and out of the house so much. I kept getting sweaty and disgusting every time I went outside — of course inside really wasn't any better since I'm only turning on the a/c when I sleep. All I wanted was to take a shower by the time the day was over.

I taught my outside class at Chien-Kuo Junior High School for the last time yesterday.

I really liked that class. Even though I only met with them 12 times, they were a lot of fun. Just me and 30 kids talking about whatever topic we were assigned that day and playing games. There was no pressure of tests or homework or any other assignments.

It was literally just talking.

At the end of class everyone kept coming up and saying their goodbyes and telling me they had a lot of fun — I beamed with pride. One of my students, Darren, came up after everyone had left.

Darren: Jimmie, may I ask you a question.

Me: Well, sure, shoot.

Darren: Was today your last time teaching our class?

Me: Unfortunately, yes. I had a lot of fun, but now you guys get to have summer vacation!

Darren: OK, well, we made this for you.

Apparently Darren made this bookmark for me (with a lucky four-leaf clovers on it) and had everyone sign it like a yearbook.

It says a lot of really sweet things about how much fun they had and how I'm the best teacher ever and they won't forget me and they hope I won't forget them.

Hey, they said it not me!

He threw in the red, uber-Chinese looking thing because he said he thinks foreigners all like to get really stereotypical Chinese things as souvenirs. I told him that he's totally right and I love it.

He thought that was pretty funny.

It was really strange getting a taste of what it's going to be like in six weeks when I leave and I'm seeing all my kids for the last time. I think I'm going to miss them a lot.